Chapter 10

Christian

I park the car in front of Jasmine’s building. Looking at the clock, I have a few minutes before I go up. She looked shell-shocked when I kissed her cheek last night. I needed to let her know where my intentions lay.

I smile, thinking of Bella at my parents’ estate. She is going to love it out there. Looking out at the streets of London. This isn’t the nicest of areas which is why the regeneration funding has been allocated here. The sad fact of it is once the regeneration takes place, properties are bought up by the wealthy. This inflates the house prices, making buying and renting near impossible. I think of the old woman on Jasmine’s floor being homeless and putting a hex on me.

Yeah, not worth it.

With the crazy lady fresh in my mind. I quietly knock on the door. I have made notes for the building manager to put better security facilities on the front and back doors. They will fit additional cameras around the build and inside. Hopefully she won’t be living here long, but it will make me feel better knowing they are safe.

Jasmine opens the door. My smile falls away from my face when I see her expression. She just looks despondent and she won’t look me in the eye.

“Come in. I am will just get Bella’s bag and my jacket.”

She quickly goes inside.

“Mr Hayes! I’m ready to see the chickens.”

Bella comes running over to me in the hallway. I bend down and pick her up. She looks so excited. Two white floral clips hold her dark hair back. She is wearing cute little denims with a weird-looking pig on her t-shirt. Her mother comes behind her with a white jacket.

“Here baby, put this on.”

My heart drops when I see the wedding ring on her finger as she puts Bella’s arms through the jacket. My eyes don’t leave her face. No wonder she won’t look at me. I narrow my eyes on her. She is going to find out what a tenacious bastard I am.

She has a massive bag with her.

“We are only going for the day. That looks like an overnight bag.”

“It has her wellies and a change of clothes in there.” She said, smiling nervously at me before looking away again.Her eyes look slightly swollen. Fuck.

“Okay, let’s go Miss Bella. The animals are waiting for you.”

She lets out a deafening squeal in my ear.

Fuck. I do not remember being this exuberant as a kid. Connor is more reserved.

I take the bag from Jasmine and wait for her on the landing. The door across the landing opens and I hold my breath, hoping the old woman says nothing in front of Bella.

“Good morning, Bella. Where are you off to today?” She said with a wide smile on her face.

I gape at her. She sounds like a sweet old lady.

“We are going to see chickens on Mr Hayes’ farm.”

“Oh, that’s nice. Mr Hayes had better take good care of you both.” She said with a smile, but her tone suggests otherwise.

“Tell Jasmine we went to the car.” I tell her and bolt towards the staircase.

“Bye, Mrs Geller.”

She cackles like the witch I suspect her of being.

“Bye, dear. Have fun with your chickens.”

When we get downstairs, I put her bag in the back seat beside the car seat. I move the straps away like the sales assistant showed me. I sit her wriggling little body into the seat to strap her in. It takes a few attempts before it clicks into place. I give it a few tugs to make sure it is secure.

“Mr Hayes, Can I get Sully, please?”

“Sorry, sweetie. Who is Sully?”

“My teddy. He is in the bag.” She said as she points at the bag beside her. I pull her blue monster teddy out for her.

I hope my mum and sister can give me some tips about kids.

Jasmine stands behind me, peering into the car at Bella.

“Do you need anything else, baby?”

She grins at her mum and shakes her head.

I stand up and open the passenger door open for Jasmine. She looks at the back seat for a moment.

“You will be more comfortable in the front. We can stop off at the service station anytime you want.”

She nods and sits in the car. I try not to stare at the ring she still wears. I can’t ignore the surge of jealousy that floods through me. I know they were in school together for years before they started dating at around fifteen-sixteen years old. I’m not a patient person and I have no intention of pussyfooting around with her. I carefully shut the door without slamming it like I want to. Having a tantrum will not help my cause.

I look in the rear-view mirror and see Bella is still knocked out. Her head it leaning to one side on the car seat but her mouth is almost wide open as she sleeps. After around twenty minutes of questions, she fell asleep. I tried to monitor Jasmine. She was giving me side glances as I answered Bella’s questions.

Jasmine turns to look at Bella before I feel her eyes on me.

“Uh. I had wanted to speak to you.”

“Sure. I would feel more comfortable if we can do this at my parents’ house without Bella around.”

I glance down at her lap and she is twisting the ring around her finger.

“Okay.”

She looks out of the window, once again avoiding me. The clothes and ring she is wearing like her armour, it’s going to get stripped away from her. I smile at the thought. I will need to fill my dad in when I get home. He did a fair amount of chasing when it came to my mother. My mother’s family comes from money, but my dad came from Scotland. He made his own way with through properties. Perhaps he can give me a few tips.

I cringe.

Fuck. I hope he isn’t going to give me advice on sex again. Gag.